Volume 1 Chapter 26 Teacher
"So, the different way of casting spells from the normal way means that the magic no longer affects the outside world, but oneself?"
Jon looked at the ring. The diamond-shaped blue gem in the middle sparkled in the sunlight.
Slughorn was also looking at the ring on Jon's hand, his eyes revealing nostalgia.
"I have lived a long life, but I have spent most of my life on potions and socializing, and have not studied the nature of magic. This ring and what I just said are the legacy of a friend of mine, Adrian Fox, who has spent his life searching for ways for wizards to change themselves, and the final result is this ring."
Jon recalled carefully for a while and was sure that he had not found any wizard with this name in his memory of the original work. The only person he had some impression of the surname Fawkes was that Dumbledore's phoenix seemed to be called this.
However, the magical world is so large that there are certainly more capable wizards than those who appeared in the original work. It is not surprising that Jon has never heard of this name.
Even though Slughorn had explained enough to him, Jon still had many doubts about the ring itself.
"But if it's as you said, professor, why did it follow me? Mr. Fox you mentioned created it. Even if he died and can't use it, you can still use it, right?"
"It's not as simple as you think, Jon."
Slughorn looked up at the sky, with a hint of regret on his face for some reason.
"There has never been a shortage of smart people from ancient times to the present. Of course, my old friend is not the only one who can think of conducting magic research in this direction, but almost no one has succeeded. The only magic that seems to have succeeded is actually extremely evil, even more unforgivable than the Unforgivable Curse. The ring on your hand is almost the most perfect result in history, but not everyone can use it."
"If a wizard wants to use magic to change the outside world, it needs willpower to control it. The stronger the willpower, the greater and more thorough the change will be. And if you want to use magic to make essential changes to the wizard himself, the willpower required must be immeasurable. This ring is just a medium for casting spells, similar to a magic wand. What really depends on is the wizard's own magic power and willpower. The medium is of course important, but as I have always said, if either magic power or willpower is missing, then the magic will not even be possible to complete."
"Ever since I got this ring from Adrian, I have been thinking about helping him find someone who is qualified to use his work. But it has been almost twenty years, and the magic world has undergone tremendous changes. I have met thousands of wizards with this ring, but no one is qualified to be its owner ."
He turned and looked at Jon.
"I was planning to give up, Jon. I have more important things to do. Your appearance really caught me off guard. After you left yesterday, I learned some things about you from Lily. You are very smart and have an excellent talent for magic, which I have verified today. You have only been exposed to magic for less than two weeks, but you have learned so much knowledge. This is enough to prove your diligence and hard work. The most important thing is that you are a person who values feelings. Generally, such people will not become bad even if they become villains. I would rather this masterpiece that can be recorded in the history of magic rot in my hands than make another mistake. After confirming these, I made up my mind to give you a chance to choose. Are you willing to learn this method of casting spells that can change yourself from me?"
There was a lot of information in Slughorn's words.
John could tell what kind of magic he was talking about, which was even more unforgivable than the Unforgivable Curses. It was a magic that fundamentally changed the wizard himself. Throughout the entire original work, only the Horcrux that Voldemort used for his own immortality had such effectiveness.
The existence of the Horcruxes was revealed to Voldemort by the old man in front of him. He has always regretted this incident, so he said "make the same mistake again" in the previous sentence.
To be honest, with John's current magical knowledge and spell level, he cannot yet understand what effect it will have if the changes caused by magic are applied to the wizard himself.
But what he could understand was that such an opportunity was rare, extremely rare, and he already had a strong sense of crisis in his heart because of his own lack of strength.
He could probably guess that the reason why he had such conditions was most likely because he had traveled through time. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why others could not do it, but he was special.
For Jon, who was determined to increase his strength, Slughorn's words today came at the right time, like a timely help in a difficult situation, so he had no reason to refuse.
Jon met Slughorn's eyes, his gaze was serious and his tone was firm.
"I want to learn, Professor."
Slughorn laughed when he heard his answer. No matter how many times you looked at his chubby face, it would make you feel like you were watching a walrus laughing.
"Compared to professor, I actually prefer the title of teacher."
"Teacher, how should we study next?" After establishing a teacher-student relationship that was even closer than that between teachers and students in school, Jon asked impatiently.
Only then did Slughorn see some expression on Jon's face that was consistent with an eleven-year-old child.
"Don't be anxious. Not to mention that you haven't learned a single spell yet . Before I can really teach you, I still need to teach you some things to prepare for the start of your studies."
Jon had a puzzled look on his face.
“What do I need to learn first?”
He said softly.
"Occlumency."
…
After agreeing with Slughorn that they would go to his office to study every day after dinner, Jon left from the roof of the car.
Just as he returned to the carriage, he saw Filch gathering students in the corridor with a gloomy face.
At this time, he happened to meet Neville and the others walking out of the common room, and couldn't help but ask curiously.
"What happened? Why is Filch so angry?"
Neville and the other three shook their heads in confusion. It was not until they inquired from the senior students around them that they found out what had happened.
It turned out that Filch discovered that someone had broken into the unmarked room without any professor's permission.
